Marylee Orr honored by Tides Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO-- Tides is proud to announce the 2012 Jane Bagley Lehman Award winners, two astounding local leaders and grassroots activists who brought their communities together and advocated for truth, accountability, and justice in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Brenda Dardar-Robichaux and Marylee Orr work every day to provide for the people who have been adversely affected by the oil spill and to hold BP accountable for the damage wrought upon their communities.

From testifying in front of Congress to running an in-house clinic to tend to skin and respiratory problems and memory loss, to taking court action and providing educational tools to their community to deal with chemicals in their blood, these two women remind us what ordinary people can accomplish and the power of local leaders in driving national change.

"When I started doing this work, I was called Henny Penny and Chicken Little, and now I'm sitting on agency panels and taking court action to make BP listen," says Marylee Orr. "Ordinary people can really do a lot."